title: A systematic review of the literature on the outcomes of treatment for recurrent and persistent carpal tunnel syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recurrent and persistent carpal tunnel syndrome is an uncommon but potentially difficult surgical dilemma. Many surgical treatment options have been described in the literature without comparative data on outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review on recurrent carpal tunnel syndrome was performed for all articles from 1946 to 2012 in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and hand-searched reference lists from all identified articles. Twenty-three articles were screened and identified from the time period 1972 to 2012, representing two general treatment groups: decompression with flap interposition and repeated open decompression. A meta-analysis was then performed, generating forest and funnel plots of the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 294 patients from 14 studies in the flap arm of the meta-analysis had a weighted success rate of 86 percent (95 percent CI, 0.75 to 0.96), and 364 patients from nine studies in the nonflap arm had a weighted 75 percent success rate (95 percent CI, 0.66 to 0.84). Heterogeneity was statistically analyzed and revealed low heterogeneity with the I statistic. Forest plots were created and analyzed between subgroups, and chi-square analysis revealed a highly statistically significant difference (p = 0.001). The odds ratio of success in the nonflap group was 0.50 (95 percent CI, 0.33 to 0.75).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Decompression with the use of vascularized flap coverage appears to have a higher success rate over simple repeated decompression. The relevance of these data is pertinent to all hand surgeons, as they could have an impact on treatment guidelines for this relatively uncommon but problematic condition, but further prospective study is needed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Therapeutic, III.
authors.affiliation: Miami, Fla. From the Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic, Aesthetic, and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Ali M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Soltani
authors.forename: Bassan J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Allan
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Best
authors.forename: Haaris S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Mir
authors.forename: Zubin J
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Panthaki
mesh_terms: D002349:Carpal Tunnel Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D019299:Decompression, Surgical / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D012008:Recurrence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D016896:Treatment Outcome